Dear Mrs. Eddy: In the Oct. "Journal," I read the following: "But the real man, who was created in the image of God, does not commit sin." What then does sin? What commits theft? Or who does murder? For instance, the man is held responsible for the crime: for I went once to a place where a man was said to be "hanged for murder"; and certainly I saw him, or his effigy, dangling at the end of a rope. This "man" was held responsible for the "sin."
Ques.—What sins?
Ans.—According to the word, man is the image and likeness of God. Does His essential likeness sin, or dangle at the end of a rope? If not, what does? A culprit, a sinner, anything but a man! Then, what is a sinner? A mortal; and man is immortal. Again: mortals are the embodiments (or bodies if you please) of error, not truth; of sickness sin and death. Naming them His embodiment, can neither make them so, nor overthrow the logic that man is not an error. Mortals seem very material; man in the likeness of Spirit, is spiritual. Holding the right idea of man in my mind, I can improve my own, and other people's individuality, their health and morals; whereas the opposite image of man, a sinner, kept constantly in mind, can no more improve the health or morals than an artist can be aided in painting the face of Jesus by holding in his thought the character of Judas.
